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R. van Veen, B. McCarthy, "Designing sound system in-band headroom based on expected difference between C- and A-weighted levels," Engineering Brief 670, (2022 May.). doi: R. van Veen, B. McCarthy, "Designing sound system in-band headroom based on expected difference between C- and A-weighted levels," Engineering Brief 670, (2022 May.). doi:
Abstract: Sound pressure level (SPL) is the standard metric for regulations regarding environmental noise exposure. Because performances are often regulated by their A-weighted sound level, it is tempting to think that A-weighted level should be the primary design consideration for sound system headroom. Because A-weighting disregards significant low-frequency energy, it is possible to create a wide variety of spectra with the same A-weighted level, but each having a different spectral shape and C-weighted level. While regulators correlate excessive A-weighted levels with hearing damage, A-weighted levels are less well correlated with community annoyance. The Netherlands has recognized this and created a permitting system incorporating the difference between C- and A-weighted sound levels (C-A) as a measure of low-frequency content. This Brief gives supporting evidence for the correlation between C-A levels and different musical genres and offers complementary design guidance corresponding to sound system headroom with emphasis on in-band levels.

@article{van veen2022designing,
author={van veen, merlijn, schwenke, roger and mccarthy, bob},
journal={journal of the audio engineering society},
title={designing sound system in-band headroom based on expected difference between c- and a-weighted levels},
year={2022},
volume={},
number={},
pages={},
doi={},
month={may},} @article{van veen2022designing,
author={van veen, merlijn, schwenke, roger and mccarthy, bob},
journal={journal of the audio engineering society},
title={designing sound system in-band headroom based on expected difference between c- and a-weighted levels},
year={2022},
volume={},
number={},
pages={},
doi={},
month={may},
abstract={sound pressure level (spl) is the standard metric for regulations regarding environmental noise exposure. because performances are often regulated by their a-weighted sound level, it is tempting to think that a-weighted level should be the primary design consideration for sound system headroom. because a-weighting disregards significant low-frequency energy, it is possible to create a wide variety of spectra with the same a-weighted level, but each having a different spectral shape and c-weighted level. while regulators correlate excessive a-weighted levels with hearing damage, a-weighted levels are less well correlated with community annoyance. the netherlands has recognized this and created a permitting system incorporating the difference between c- and a-weighted sound levels (c-a) as a measure of low-frequency content. this brief gives supporting evidence for the correlation between c-a levels and different musical genres and offers complementary design guidance corresponding to sound system headroom with emphasis on in-band levels.},}

TY - paper
TI - Designing sound system in-band headroom based on expected difference between C- and A-weighted levels
SP - EP -
AU - van Veen, Merlijn, Schwenke, Roger
AU - McCarthy, Bob
PY - 2022
JO - Journal of the Audio Engineering Society
IS -
VO -
VL -
Y1 - May 2022 TY - paper
TI - Designing sound system in-band headroom based on expected difference between C- and A-weighted levels
SP - EP -
AU - van Veen, Merlijn, Schwenke, Roger
AU - McCarthy, Bob
PY - 2022
JO - Journal of the Audio Engineering Society
IS -
VO -
VL -
Y1 - May 2022
AB - Sound pressure level (SPL) is the standard metric for regulations regarding environmental noise exposure. Because performances are often regulated by their A-weighted sound level, it is tempting to think that A-weighted level should be the primary design consideration for sound system headroom. Because A-weighting disregards significant low-frequency energy, it is possible to create a wide variety of spectra with the same A-weighted level, but each having a different spectral shape and C-weighted level. While regulators correlate excessive A-weighted levels with hearing damage, A-weighted levels are less well correlated with community annoyance. The Netherlands has recognized this and created a permitting system incorporating the difference between C- and A-weighted sound levels (C-A) as a measure of low-frequency content. This Brief gives supporting evidence for the correlation between C-A levels and different musical genres and offers complementary design guidance corresponding to sound system headroom with emphasis on in-band levels.